The prices are more closely tied to the income they generate vs what the people next door paid for their house.As for your long term goals, I am not sure starting with a duplex or four plex will open the door for owning in that asset class (larger multifamily) the way you might think it would.

Everything is tied to the master account, which is my holding company, then broken down into sub accounts per LLC and per property.

I’ve had a lot of people do this with me where they will lend me money on some of the deals that I do and then I will give them a deed of trust, which ties their money to a specific property that has much more equity than the sum of the loans.

We have family ties to the Tampa/St.

Of course, have a plan to pay it back but it's a great way to utilize money that is basically tied up, and losing value since in a couple years it won't be worth what it is today.  

His hands were tied and he ended up having to use cash outside of his IRA, which I believe would have been flagged as a prohibited transaction, but he couldn't just stand idly by while his tenants had no running water, etc. 

Real Estate will sharpen your instincts and make you stronger but you definitely have to stick with it.

Part of what makes it so different is that it’s tied to a zero balance sweep checking account.

I tie all of my analysis to current market because that’s what determines how it’s performing vs other possible investments.

Certain deals/funds will have stronger cashflow vs others are stronger upside.